Starting with road safety in China

China Automobile Association (CAA) is China’s oldest and largest motoring club in China. It was set up in 1995 in Beijing, and became a wholly-owned company of IAG in December 2003.

Helping motorists and reducing risk on China’s roads are central tenets of CAA’s purpose. More than 100,000 people die in road accidents in China every year.

“ Car ownership is a very new phenomenon in China,” says Kevin Fong, CEO of CAA. “Most car owners are novice drivers who simply have not grown up with a car as a regular part of their lives. This means that there is a far less developed sense of safe driving behaviours and habits.  For example, some drivers in China think that if their car has an airbag, they don’t have to wear a seatbelt.”

“Our challenge is to start right from the beginning to inform and educate Chinese car owners about the basics of road safety: wearing seatbelts, the benefits and dangers or airbags, the dangers of speeding and drink driving.”

In 2004/05, CAA launched the first phase of its Road Safety Partnership with Tsinghua University’s Automotive Crash Lab (ACL). The Road Safety Program involved five major road-safety research and media events covering safer car colours, seatbelts and airbags, speeding, child safety and drink driving.

The Beijing Traffic Management Bureau was so impressed with the campaign that it is going to partner with CAA in phase two of the program this year.

“Our partnership with Tsinghua University has been a tremendous success and a real rallying point for CAA staff,” says Kevin. “It’s gratifying and exciting to know that our campaign has reached millions of Chinese motorists through the national media coverage we have received.  But it’s not just about high profile campaigns.  We try to make sure that our patrol and towing staff give our customers and members a safety tip every time they finish a job.  We try to integrate the safety message day to day.”

CAA is also partnering with Tsinghua University to introduce the NCAP program to China. NCAP programs use a 5-star rating system to give consumers more information about the safety performance of new cars. The programs have resulted in road safety benefits in other parts of the world, such as Australia, Europe, Japan and the US.

“ As our core business is helping China’s motorists when they are in trouble, improving road safety is really about protecting our members and customers.  It also gives us a platform for a very meaningful and important dialogue with government,” says Kevin.